


(Un)Happy Valentine's Day

by iamthatmonster



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, M/M, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-15
Updated: 2015-02-15
Packaged: 2018-03-13 01:25:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3362639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamthatmonster/pseuds/iamthatmonster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Highschool!AU. Michael likes Gavin, but Gavin doesn't like him back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	(Un)Happy Valentine's Day

Michael hadn't been looking forward to Valentine's Day.

In fact, he wasn't looking forward to the monday after Valentine's Day either. His reason for that wasn't the typical one, not what someone would expect from someone like Michael Jones. He didn't hate the holiday (or the respective day his school had chosen to celebrate it), didn't think it was stupid. In fact, the complete opposite was true- Michael thought Valentine's Day was an amazing day for spending time with the person you loved, and an even better day for confessing that same love.

The latter was why he hadn't been looking forward to the day.

For as long as he could remember, since the two of them had been in elementary school, Michael had been developing a crush on Gavin Free.

Everything about him was perfect in Michael's eyes, and he never hesitated to gush about him to another one of his friends. The two were in high school now and Michael still hadn't confessed. There were a million reasons he could come up with for why that was the case, but the most significant of those was just that he didn't know if the other boy would be interested.

Throughout his school years, Gavin had dated various people, boys and girls alike- which in the beginning Michael hadn't found intimidating. But even after having been with at least a dozen people, Gavin hadn't ever so much as given Michael a second glance. At least not that Michael noticed.

Michael tried to tell himself that everything would be alright, that it didn't matter that Gavin didn't like him. However, when kids from the student council went around the school advertising that you could buy a rose for a dollar, Michael couldn't help himself.

In order to get the balance right, he bought four red roses and a single white rose, thinking that the way the colors worked together in combination with the number would be perfect. If he stopped to ponder what was happening, Michael knew he was overthinking it.

The real question wasn't if Gavin was going to like the actual bouquet, but rather if he would even want roses from Michael in the first place. Michael figured making sure they looked perfect anyways, just in the rare case that he did.

There was an option to have the roses delivered for you, whether with a note telling who it was from, or completely anonymously. Several things held Michael back from going with that option- first of all, he wasn't sure how the school would react to his sending the flowers to another guy. He liked to think that they wouldn't make a big deal out of it, but Michael didn't want to risk it.

Secondly, Michael knew that the urge to send the bouquet anonymously was far too strong. Unfortunately, Michael's whole purpose for buying the flowers for Gavin in the first place was to confess, so anonymity didn't work in that regard either.

In addition, Michael wanted instant confirmation of how Gavin felt about the situation- whether he liked Michael back, he wanted to remain just friends, or just downright absolutely hated him. Though he hoped it wouldn't be the third option, Michael was willing to settle with the second by that point.

He had torn himself down enough that he believed the other boy would never like him in the same way- if he cared about him like that, he would have said something sooner.

Michael ignored that he had been putting it off himself.

Finally, the flowers were delivered, and Michael was holding the flowers in his hands. Several classmates teased him about how he must be confessing, since five was way too many roses for anyone other than that or a significant other, which they knew he didn't have. Michael told them to fuck off and mind their own business.

Then the bell was ringing and Michael was on his feet. On a normal day, Michael would have joined the rest of the kids trying to push through the crowd of people currently trying to push through the door. However, in that moment he was far too concerned about not messing up the roses to worry about escaping his prison.

Once every other person had left the room, Michael glanced at the teacher- Mr. Ramsey- before strolling towards the door.

"Good luck," Michael heard from behind him, and the only response he could come up with was a grunted thank you. He figured he was going to need the luck.

When Michael saw Gavin standing beside their lockers, he stopped dead in his tracks. Of course he understood that it was to be expected. Even if he wasn't trying to talk to Michael, he still had to get into his locker. Unfortunately, Michael couldn't help his mind from racing to other possibilities, the idea that Gavin wanted to confess the same thing to him.

Taking a deep breath, Michael forced those thoughts out of his head, closing the distance between the two boys in only a few long strides. Clearing his throat, Michael squared his shoulders, trying his best to appear confident.

It didn't work.

"H-hey, Gav," Michael stammered, scratching at the back of his neck and internally cursing himself for the waver in his tone.

The other boy looked up at his words, a curious look on his face. Then the curiosity was being replaced with understanding and a wide smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. "Hey, Michael," he exclaimed, his face bright. "Happy Valentine's Day!"

"You already said that today, idiot," Michael chuckled, trying to keep the look on his face from looking affectionate.

"I know, but you didn't say it back! I'm going to keep saying it until you do."

Licking his lips, Michael cleared his throat once more. However, before he was able to speak, Gavin's eyes were narrowing in on the bouquet of roses in Michael's hand.

"Oh," he exclaimed. "You have roses. I wish I had the money to buy some. You know that new guy Thomas? I've really been wanting to ask him out, and roses would be perfect." Gavin put special emphasis on the last word, and Michael felt his heart drop into his stomach as soon as the words had escaped his lips.

Of course. He was ridiculous to think that Gavin had been thinking about him for Valentine's Day. Michael wasn't that sort of a friend to him.

As Michael had been thinking those things, Gavin had been speaking. Michael knew that the other boy tended to ramble a lot- in fact, that was one of his favorite things about Gavin, when that rambling wasn't breaking his heart. However, he heard a question posed towards him, which snapped him out of his thoughts.

"...who are those roses for, Michael?"

Blinking several times, Michael stared down at the flowers in his hand. His heart was still absent from his chest, currently twisting and turning in his stomach.

Then he was holding them out, his eyes dropping to focus on the ground. "I don't even know why I bought them," he mumbled. "I don't have anyone to give them to, not even somebody I wanted to give them to. You can have them- give them to Thomas or whatever."

"Really?" The tone of Gavin's voice sounded slightly shocked, but somehow excited at the same time. "You mean that?"

"Yeah, sure. Like I said, I don't have any need for them anyways."

Then Gavin was taking the flowers, burying his nose into the bouquet and taking a deep breath. The look on his face was bright, and Michael watched as he walked away. "Thank you, Michael," he called over his shoulder. "I'll pay you back when I have money, I swear!"

Michael cursed quietly under his breath when he felt tears starting to form in his eyes, turning to his locker instead of torturing himself further by watching Gavin give the roses to someone else.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Gavin," he murmured to himself. "Glad you liked your gift."


End file.
